The Subtle Art of Working With Intent

If you're a parent of teenage kids, you'll know that feeling of being ignored as they battle to the next level in their game. To all intents and purposes, you are not even there and those words?"Have you been listening to anything I've said?" hang redundant in the air.

You can make excuses for your kids, like they're in the zone, or obsessed with the game, or simply they're a typical teenager and will soon grow out of it....

... but I'm not so sure they will! And here's why?

In our fast-paced media-centric world, the average person consumes 74GB of data every day that's equivalent to a lifetime's learning for our ancestors a few hundred years ago or the whole of the data in the Bible 15,000 times over!

Although our brains are evolving and growing bigger, they can't keep up with the constant bombardment and sheer volume of fast-paced, all-consuming stimuli which swamp us 24/7, these days.?

To cope, we're having to learn strategies to handle such data overload, and selective attention is the strategy of choice as it helps us to block out unimportant distractions.

So, now you know your teenager is not ignoring your calls to dinner or to clean their room. They simply can't process that tiny extra amount of information, as it's just not important enough for them to even acknowledge it.

Now, how can this knowledge help us in business?

Well, the simple answer is we should always try to minimise distractions to enable us to focus more accurately on the task at hand. That means:?

• Turn off social media unless you are actively on it for marketing.
• Close tabs you are not using.
• Turn off notifications unless it's essential for the task in hand.?
• Set the phone to silent in a meeting or on a sales call.?
• Write notes when someone is speaking to keep attention on what they have to say.?
• Repeat key information to help cement it in your mind.
• Keep lists of any tasks or ideas you need to act on, and refer to them rather than trying to remember what you need to do.?
• Meditate for 5 mins and calm the mind before jumping on a sales call, entering a meeting or starting a new task.?
• And if you're working from home, clear away any domestic chores before you start the day so that you're not staring at dirty dishes in the sink or listening for the washing machine to stop.?

Actively removing such typical distractions takes away the pressure, reduces the stress and helps you focus.

You work more effectively and with intent.?